Article excerpt

THE UNITED STATES AND THE EUROPEAN UNION AGREE TO TAKE URGENT,
SUSTAINED GLOBAL ACTION AND DEVELOP AN INTEGRATED POLICY APPROACH TO
ENSURING SECURE, AFFORDABLE SUPPLIES OF ENERGY AND TACKLING CLIMATE
CHANGE. THIS DOCUMENT FROM THE 17TH EU-U.S. SUMMIT (APRIL 30, 2007
IN WASHINGTON) PROVIDES THE DETAILS OF THE JOINT US-EUROPEAN
APPROACH TO ENERGY SECURITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION.

Ensuring secure, affordable supplies of energy and tackling
climate change are central, interlinked global challenges facing the
international community. Addressing these issues requires urgent,
sustained global action and an integrated policy approach, using a
wide range of regionally, nationally or internationally defined
policy tools and measures. We are determined to ensure access to
affordable, clean, and secure sources of energy to underpin
sustainable global economic growth and to protect our environment.
Tackling the challenge of energy security will also require
unprecedented international cooperation in several areas, including
increasing energy efficiency, market transparency, diversifying
energy supplies including the share of renewable energies and
protecting and maintaining the world's energy supply system.

We are committed to the ultimate objective of stabilization of
greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that
would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate
system, and we acknowledge the recent work of the IPCC. The
respective responsibilities of industrialized and major emerging
economies require strengthened action according to our national
circumstances. Developing and commercializing advanced technologies
will allow us to slow, stabilize and then significantly cut net
global emissions of greenhouse gases. This requires strong economies
and a wide range of policy instruments, including market based
instruments, to generate technology investment and commercialization
and achieve emission reductions. To achieve these objectives, we
will work together and with other nations to deliver results in our
global efforts to confront climate change through the upcoming G8
summit in Heiligendamm, our numerous multilateral partnerships, and
by promoting a constructive agenda for the UNFCCC Conference in
Indonesia in December 2007. We especially note the importance of
advancing energy efficiency, near-zero emissions coal and
renewables, including biofuels, in improving our energy security and
reducing anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases. Nuclear energy
can also contribute to reach these goals in countries that decide to
use this option. We therefore affirm our commitment to accelerate
the transformation of our energy infrastructure so that we can
effectively tackle the interlinked challenges of climate change,
energy security, and clean and sustainable development. As we usher
in this Age of Energy Transformation, we will act together in true
partnership to advance our shared climate, sustainable development,
and energy security goals, using a mix of nationally, regionally or
internationally defined policy tools to research, develop, deploy
and commercialize clean energy technologies that will change the way
we power our homes, businesses, and automobiles.

Complementary Goals:

Our common goals for clean energy development and
commercialization in the near and medium-term include, but are not
limited to, the following sectors:

Promoting Advanced Coal Technologies, including Near Zero
Emissions:

- The European Union considers carbon dioxide capture and storage
an important option in a broad portfolio of measures to reduce CO2-
emissions. Given the early stage of some elements of the CCS-
technology concept, the EU will establish a mechanism to stimulate
the construction by 2015 of a network of up to 12 demonstration
plants of sustainable fossil fuel technologies in commercial power
generation. …